China says failed Chinalco deal won't harm ties

The collapse of a planned $19.5 billion equity tie-up between Chinese state-owned aluminium giant Chinalco and Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto will not harm Chinese-Australian commercial and trade relations, a Ministry of Commerce spokesman said on Monday.

Rio walked away from the deal with Chinalco earlier this month and instead proposed a $116 billion iron-ore joint venture with bigger rival BHP Billiton. Rio also launched a $15.2 billion rights issue.

Spokesman Yao Jian said the Rio-BHP deal would have a big impact on global supplies of iron ore, and the concerns of China's steel makers on that score were understandable.

But Yao told a news conference that the ministry had not yet received any requests to examine the deal to see whether it complied with the provisions of China's anti-monopoly law.

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